REQUITE patient participation event in Leicester

22nd May 2018

a REQUITE patient feedback event has been organised in Leicester on May 10th 2018. Patients who participated in the REQUITE observational study in Leicester, their friends and family were invited to attend an evening of talks and discussion about the project and also a newsletter was enclosed on the progress of the study for those who could not make it. 150 Patients and partners registered to attend, a mix of breast and prostate patients.

The event started at 6pm with tea, coffee and biscuits, followed by four talks from 6.30-7.15pm. Prof Paul Symonds gave an introduction to radiotherapy research in Leicester, including progress in the REQUITE project. Dr. Chris Talbot then gave a presentation about the genetic and RILA test within the project. Tim Rattay talked about his study on patient perspectives to radiogenomic testing and predicting acute breast side effects, and finally a new PhD student described her planned project. Afterwards a wide variety of questions on the work were answered including personal, scientific, ethical and political items.

Throughout, the participants were engaged, enthusiastic and appreciative. We are glad to say that three have volunteered to attend the Manchester REQUITE meeting as participant representatives on July 18th 2018. The event was certainly beneficial for the medical and scientific team (several of the research nurses attended), and we hope for the patients too.

REQUITE: Validating Predictive Models and Biomarkers of Radiotherapy Toxicity to Reduce Side-Effects and Improve Quality of Life in Cancer Survivors

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 601826